Lesson at a Glance | He Tirohanga Whakamua
Ngā Whāinga Ako | Learning Intentions
Students will know
- The Māori concept of Tuakana-Teina: A reciprocal mentoring relationship where an older or more experienced person (Tuakana) guides a younger person (Teina).
- How Years 7–8 intermediate students serve as leaders, role models, and guardians (Kaitiaki) in a school community.
- The responsibilities of active listening, empathy, and positive influence.
Students will demonstrate
- By writing their Tuakana Leadership Charter and proposing 1 peer mentorship initiative.
- By completing Section 1 of their Y7–8 Leadership Portfolio.
Do Now | Tīmatanga Whakaaro (10 min)
The Tuakana Shift Prompt:
"When you were a 5-year-old starting school, how did you view the 12-year-olds? Now that YOU are in Years 7–8, what kind of Tuakana role model do you choose to be?"
Unpack: Younger students look up to intermediate students constantly! Every choice you make in the playground—how you speak, include others, and show respect—shapes the whole school culture!
Tuakana-Teina Core Framework (15 min)
Tuakana-Teina is NOT one-way bossing around! The Tuakana guides with kindness, while the Teina brings fresh energy and questions.
Includes playground mediation, buddy reading, sports equipment management, and welcoming new students.
Mentorship Action Plan (15 min)
Individually (4 min). List three things you have actually seen a Year 7 struggle with this term. Not what you imagine is hard — what you watched happen. Getting lost, no one to sit with, not knowing you can just ask for the ball back.
In pairs (7 min). Pick the one you could do something about. Plan it in Section 1 of your portfolio against the five questions: what, who for, when and where, what you need and who to ask, and how you would know it worked.
Swap with another pair (4 min). Your only job is to ask them one question: "What would stop this from happening?" Write their answer on their plan. Most initiatives die on a detail nobody checked — a locked cupboard, a teacher who was never asked.
Kaiako note. The realistic ideas are small: a game, a cupboard, a five-minute routine. If every plan is a whole-school assembly, push for smaller. A plan that runs beats a plan that impresses.
📁 Y7–8 Leadership Portfolio — Section 1: Tuakana Charter
Students open Section 1 of their Y7–8 Leadership Portfolio — print one booklet per student at the start of the unit and keep it across all five lessons.
Section 1 Requirements:
1. Tuakana Leadership Charter: Write a 3-point personal pledge detailing how you will model Manaakitanga and respect to junior students.
2. Peer Mentorship Initiative Proposal: Outline 1 actionable idea (e.g. wet-lunch story reading, game leading at break time) for junior support.
Exit Verification | Ka Mutu Hoki (5 min)
Exit Check:
"My Section 1 outlines my Tuakana Leadership Charter and specifies 1 actionable peer mentorship initiative!"
Teacher Planning & NZ Curriculum Alignment
Curriculum anchoring. This lesson has no Phase 3 statement of its own. The Phase 3 leadership statements in the live corpus are all framed around outdoor education and physical challenge, not peer mentorship. The unit anchors at overview level instead — see the verified statements on the Y7–8 Starter Pack overview. Claiming a nearby statement this lesson does not actually teach would be worse than claiming none.
Vocabulary: Tuakana, teina, ako, reciprocal mentorship, leadership, role model.